I really enjoyed making this box. My husband is very supportive of my 'hobby' and is always encouraging me. (I love him so much.) So I decided to make a box with him in mind. If there is any place he'd rather be it's off fishing. He doesn't get much time to fish anymore but he still loves it, so this box was for him. I wanted to keep it simple as well cause he's a simple kind of guy, so I decided to go with a cane pole and a bucket of worms. And David (my hubby) always take a styrofoam cooler with him.
Ok so let's go through the elements in this box. First the box itself is made from mat board. It measures about 4x4x6 inches. I say 'about' because I had to make it a 16th of an inch smaller than that so it would fit in the display box. The outside (which you can't really see) is painted with the same green as the 'grass'. The background is an image I found online then edited, printed and glued in place. For the base I used a piece of foam board with the paper removed from both sides to give the grassy area a bit of a lift. Over the foam I glued a piece of a tan terry clothe towel that I bought at the dollar store. (I learned how to do this grass from this lady.) I then painted it with Lush Foliage a Craft smart paint from Michael's. The water I painted dark gray (again from craft smart) and dry brushed with Baby Blue an Americana paint from Hobby Lobby. I then added 3 heavy layers of Triple Thick glaze.
I made the flowers several months ago (I made a lot of flowers, lol) and the lily pads I printed and cut out from standard printer paper. I used a matching marker around the edges of the lily pads. (This is to get rid of the white you see after cutting things out of paper. Always marker your edges. It makes your finished projects look so much better.)
The worm bucket is made from a strip of card stock rolled and glued into a tube. (I didn't put a bottom on this bucket because I knew it would be glued down and no one would see it.) I then filled it with hot pink polymer clay and added the little worm coming out over the side. I baked according to package directions. After the clay was cool I washed the clay and worm with Mississippi Mud an Americana paint mixed with a little water. Then I glazed the worm with Gallery Glass Crystal Clear to make him shiny. For the 'dirt' I glued on some dry tea leaves. (Used dried tea leaves or coffee grounds make the best soil or dark dirt for minis. Also learned this from the same lady as above.) I added a little 'dirt' to the worm as well so it looked like he'd been wiggling around in the the bucket.
The syrofoam cooler I made from foam board with the paper removed from both sides. I cut out the pieces, glued them and sanded the edges round. Really easy.
The camping chair...well lets just say it took a few attempts before I got it right, lol. It's made from popsicle sticks, round toothpicks, orange construction paper and straight pins. It would take way to long to give all the steps to making it, so I may make a separate post about it later.
And finally the cane pole is made from a bamboo stick that I whittled down until it was the right thickness. Then I wet it to give it a natural looking curve. I used sewing thread and glue to make the knots. I happened to have a crayola marker that was the prefect color. It was one of their stubby markers called copper penny. I used it to stain the pole and then covered that with 3 coats of Gallery Glass Chrystal Clear. Then I just added the 'fishing line' with some white sewing thread and ran it through a hole I made in the 'water' with a micro dill bit. I used a small label to tape down the thread on the bottom of the box. (I didn't have any tape, lol.)
Here is a view from the top.
And a close up of the worm bucket.
Have a great day.
Alicia
Oh and a quick update on my dollhouse project. I'm sorry to say that the dollhouse remodel is not going to be finished. The houses have different ceiling heights and no matter what I do and can't work it out so it looks right. So instead I will be building a dollhouse from scratch soon. I'll keep you updated on that project.
